It's hard to believe it's been a year since we took the leap and traded in our sweet 19 foot Airstream for our current "live full time" 25 footer. Things have been crazy busy in Rivet & Roam land the last six weeks and the blog has been woefully neglected! Stay tuned for updates from our latest trips - including Lassen, Pickathon music fest and three week cross-country trip to Michigan. For now, here's a fabulous night photo by Bill of our campsite at Sully Creek Campground in North Dakota (just outside the Theodore Roosevelt National Park).

After we realized it was going to be in the mid-90s in the Alvord Desert in the end of June, we decided to find an alternate destination for our 10 day vacation. Neither of us had ever been to Lassen Volcanic National Park and after seeing one too many gorgeous instagram photo from there, it was time to check it out! Everything I read said it was one of the few 'non busy' natioanl parks and that finding a camping spot would be no problem. Of course, we didn't factor in that 2 of the 3 main campgrounds in the National Park were closed until July 1st. So that left Manzanita Lake Campground which was pretty much packed by the time we arrived Friday afternoon. We ended up finding the last spot, situated perfectly (ahem) near the bathrooms/shower/water. However, we were determined to make it work for a couple days to explore the National Park and then see what else we could find. And then our less than idyllic campsite experience was then met with another unfortunate incident. Since dogs aren't really allowed on any trails in National Parks, we left Inga happily napping in the Airstream while we took a walk around gorgeous Lake Manzanita. When we returned, Bill opened the door to find a scene out of a blood-spattered horror movie! Poor Inga had an abscess that must have quickly formed and then burst (and then of course she shook herself and wandered through the Airstream). We managed to get her cleaned up and kept an eye on it over the next couple days since we were quite far from any town with vet services.

I will skip over the next morning where we went on a lovely hike to a waterfall which resulted in me almost keeling over with dehydration and altitude sickness. Fun! We managed to catch some of the other sights in Lassen National Forest but the coolest looking hike (and wonderfully named - Bumpass Hell) was still closed due to snow. But our luck was soon to change! We realized we needed to figure out a new campsite and went scouting in the Lassen National Forest (just outside of the National Park boundaries, which generally means much cheaper campgrounds and/or dispersed camping that allows dogs). And lo and behold, we found the perfect spot! A National Forest campground along a beautiful little creek with huge spots (and decent enough roads to get the Airstream in safely). Did I mention it was FREE? There were no services except some vault toilets but we were set to boondock in the Airstream for at least 5 days.

Stay tuned for a couple more posts about our fire lookout visits and other cool spots in Lassen. For now, enjoy some gorgeous photos of our campsite (and bonus milky way shots!)

Travel Oregon calls the Wallowas one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon and we couldn't agree more! We took a chance on the weather and headed to Joseph, a great little town known for it's art scene (particularly bronze sculpture) as well as easy access to Wallowa Lake and the Wallowa Mountains. During the summer, the Wallowa Lake Campground is packed wall to wall. However, in late March, we had the park almost to ourselves! They received a couple inches of snow the day before which was melting and manageable in the Airstream by the time we arrived. The weather gods were smiling on us with blue skies and temps in the 60s, which is pretty much a miracle in Oregon in March. We took the kayak out on the lake, checked out the Chief Joseph Trail hike and explored Joseph - including a quick visit to the Jennings Hotel. The Jennings is the "world's first Kickstarter funded hotel and artist residency" and is a great addition to Joseph. I was a backer of the Kickstarter and was curious to see how things were coming along. Greg Hennes, the owner, was hard at work on some drywall in the hallway when we arrived. He's done an amazing job restoring the old hotel (including a gorgeous sauna). We may have to give up a night in the Airstream some time to stay there! As luck would have it, we were able to attend the monthly square dance that's held in Enterprise. Caleb Klauder and the Cully Cut-Ups came over from Portland to play so we had to check it out. Sadly, my memory card with all the insanely cute kids square dancing seems to be toast, so you will just have to take my word for the fun experience of this truly lovely, charming and fun community dance. And we even danced! If you have a chance to get out to Joseph and the Wallowas, take it and run - especially in the Spring or Fall.